B.05/14: Readiness and preparatory support

The Board, having reviewed document GCF/B.05/14 Modalities for Readiness and Preparatory Support:

1. Reaffirms that Fund‐related readiness and preparatory support is a strategic priority for the Fund to enhance country ownership and access during the early stages of its operationalization, and may help countries to meet the Fund’s objectives;
2. Decides that the Fund will provide readiness and preparatory support to:
   
   1. Enable the preparation of country programmes providing for low‐emission, climate‐resilient development strategies or plans;
   2. Support and strengthen in‐country, Fund‐related institutional capacities, including for country coordination and multi‐stakeholder consultation mechanisms as it relates to the establishment and operation of national designated authorities and country focal points;
   3. Enable implementing entities and intermediaries to meet the Fund’s fiduciary principles and standards, and environmental and social safeguards, in order to directly access the Fund;
3. Notes the importance of engaging with existing readiness initiatives and programmes at international, national and regional levels to enhance learning and ensure coherence, and mandates the Secretariat to play a leading coordinating role in this regard;
4. Further notes:
   
   1. That the scope of readiness and preparatory support could evolve over time and be tailored to address countries’ specific circumstances;
   2. The importance of readiness and preparatory support for effective private sector engagement, particularly for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises and local financial intermediaries in developing countries, and activities to enable private sector involvement in small island developing States (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs);
   3. That readiness and preparatory support could be provided to all eligible countries, and that its allocation would take into account the urgent and immediate needs of developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, including LDCs, SIDS and African States;
5. Requests the Secretariat to begin advancing readiness in developing countries in the context of its communication and outreach activities;
6. Further requests the Secretariat to present to the Board, at its first meeting in 2014, a detailed programme of work relating to the provision of readiness and preparatory support, with relevant timelines and resource needs, which may include, inter alia:
   
   1. Facilitating the assessment of readiness and support needs;
   2. Country programming and portfolio development, including how countries may translate the objectives of the Fund into regional, national or sub‐national priorities, given the initial result areas and performance indicators of the Fund;
   3. Outreach activities, including regional workshops, aiming to raise awareness of relevant considerations of low‐emission, climate‐resilient development strategies and associated country programmes that would allow countries to identify and effectively communicate their priorities to the Fund, and to access resources; the selection, establishment, role and responsibilities of national designated authorities (NDAs) or country focal points, including in coordinating and facilitating multi‐ stakeholder consultation; and the procedures for selecting, nominating and accrediting sub‐national, national and regional implementing entities, and the associated fiduciary principles, and environmental and social safeguards;
   4. Advancing knowledge sharing and peer‐to‐peer learning among relevant partners and practitioners engaged in readiness and preparatory support, with a view to fostering coordination and coherence, as well as facilitating opportunities for South‐South learning;
   5. Advisory services, including a help desk to support NDAs or country focal points, prospective national and sub‐national implementing entities, and other key stakeholders;
   6. Facilitating, in collaboration with relevant partners, arrangements for training, mentorship and twinning in support of NDAs or country focal points and sub‐national and national entities seeking accreditation with the Fund;
7. Further requests the Secretariat to outline a system for determining the allocation of resources, separate from the support provided from the Secretariat’s administrative budget, for readiness and preparatory support, for consideration by the Board at its first meeting in 2014;
8. Decides that the urgent need to provide readiness and preparatory support should be reflected in the administrative budget and staffing of the Secretariat;
9. Further requests the Secretariat to mobilize resources for readiness and preparatory support.